MSE News: Financial Ombudsman says 'don't use claims management firms'

LynneinUK

Thanks for your reply & help - very much appreciated.

LynneinUK

I wonder if I am entitled to anything on my CC - if this is the case, avoiding these 'legal scams' who can I ask or where can I go?

magpiecottage

LynneinUK wrote: »

I wonder if I am entitled to anything on my CC - if this is the case, avoiding these 'legal scams' who can I ask or where can I go?

Probably only to pay it off as quickly as possible and minimise the interest charged.

You MIGHT be able to claim for payment protection cover if you were unaware it had been added but generally it was a tick box on the application so it is something they ought to be able to defend quite easily.

14wrence

I have been called about this myself by a few companies. ignore them... The way Redress Financial Management Ltd talk to you they also try to convince you they actually are the claims regulation government agency.

Going-Under_2

I just don't understand how a body that is supposed to look after us I assume, the Ministry of Justice, allows its name & apparent endorsement to be used by companies like Redress, who are clearly there to rip us off?
They've ignored to rule about taking no payments up front & are still authorised apparently. The volume of complaints must be high.What's going on??

Going-Under_2

Hi,

I have been contacted by Redress claims now that I have my PPI offer, several times, yet not heard from them since February before that.
They wanted to take payment from a credit card, implying that because I dispute the invoice because they clearly lied to me, if I wanted a refund then I would get it through the credit card company. (They said they would keep me informed & I thought that meant the truth, not lies)
They said that it had been referred to the Ombudsman in early January (7th I've been told), & there should be an outcome soon, but when I complained & said it had not gone to the FOS, they said, 'Oh, well there was a case with the BBA & we hadn't heard from the bank so we hadn't sent it to the FOS'. What a different story!
Now, they say the upfront fee is not deductible because that was to do with getting the balance written off, which they say is ongoing. Haha. Guess what? Haven't heard anything about that since February either, and I don't suppose I ever will.
Thanks MoJ for lending them credence. Why is taxpayers money being wasted on 'authorising' these companies? It's just made things worse as far as I can tell.
Is anyone in a similar situation please? I'd love to hear from you.

dunstonh

Now, they say the upfront fee is not deductible because that was to do with getting the balance written off, which they say is ongoing. Haha. Guess what? Haven't heard anything about that since February either, and I don't suppose I ever will.

The test cases in court were December 2009. The lenders won them all and it set some ground rules in place as to what was required. It virtually killed off the unenforceable credit claims companies overnight. Any claims company still transacting in that area is doing so as a scam or has cashflow problems (it needs new clients to pay up front or to delay refunds).

Going-Under_2

Thank you dunstonh; I have absolutely no doubt that Redress Claims are scammers, though 'authorised' by the MoJ of course.

I would never have got any money back if the banks hadn't caved in by the look of it, since Redress were apparently not following through.
At the time I (stupidly) signed up it loooked like we had a fight on our hands though & I'm not the only one to have fallen for the MoJ thing.
I say again; I'm sure I would not have signed up (in August 2010, when you say it would have been a scam to say my loan could be written off), if it hadn't been for the MoJ authorisation making them seem legit, and with hindsight, if I'd just continued to leave it and sent a letter off when the banks caved in, I'd have been a whole lot better off. I feel as if an action against the MoJ is in order for seemingly endorsing these companies. Where would they be without that?
Incidentally, I was only really interested in the PPI but they seemed to come as a package.
I would still like to hear from anyone who has used Redress Claims or similar.
Thanks.

Blackatan

Hi All, I will try and be concise, hopefully you will be able to help me. I received a number of calls from a CMC company who was offering to help me reclaim my PPI from Black Horse. I explained to the saleswoman that the claim was small and wasn't worth using their services, especially at 33% +VAT. On the second sales call from the company I managed to get that 33% down to 25% + VAT but still felt that it was not worth using their services. On the third call, they started quoting figures that I would be entitled to... about £6,000.00 was the figure quoted. Well now 25% +VAT out of £6,000.00 sounds ok so duly signed up. In short, Black Horse made an offer of £3,858.00 which I was told to accept as I was unlikely to get a better offer. Obviously upset that I have been duped into hiring the services of this company I have submitted letter to them offering them half of their fee (12.% +VAT) which they are refusing and intially wanted to charge me 33% +VAT. I explained that I had negotiated a reduction, which they knew nothing about and have no paperwork stating 25% + VAT. Funnily wnough I have a copy of the signed agreement. yet they are saying that they will honour 25% as a 'gesture of good will'. Obviously this is a long drawn out issue but would like to know what could be done about companies like this company who exaggerate the claim figure to dupe you into a sale? Thanks in advance for your replies and help. Oh and has anybody else experienced the exaggerated figure?

magpiecottage

dunstonh wrote: »

MoJ authorisation is so easy to get that virtually every person posting on this board could get authorised in a couple of weeks. There is no qualification, training or experience required.

Good news for this bloke then - he's in need of a new job!